Dear Uncle Sam, can we talk? Us retirees can't go backwards forever.

"Thank you for the 6% cost of living increase in our Social Security benefits. We truly appreciate the gesture."

But, retirees really want something else. They don't want the illusion of moving forward when they know they are still going backwards.

The increase in Social Security benefits will not be enough to cover the price increases we've seen and the ones still coming week after week.

About $90 a month is the Social Security increase the average retiree will see. A couple will see their monthly income go up $180.

The link below will show you how this increase in income compares to the higher expenses on so many goods and services.

We kept it simple.

We relied on our proprietary cash-flow spreadsheet to help us add up where price increases have been most commonly felt. These now larger budget items include real estate taxes, utilities, gasoline, groceries, haircuts and dining out to name a few.

The exact results in our example aren't really that important. We used what we thought were conservative estimates for how much more stuff now costs.

What we found was about a $50 a month short-fall. In this example, our couple had $180 more in income but $230 more in monthly expenses.

Here is the link to the results of our analysis. Let us know if you want us to send you a blank budgeting template.

2021 Inflation and Social Security 6 percent COLA

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